Here it is - the OFFICIAL 2014 READING GOAL CHALLENGE THREAD

[dizluvah]

Oh, I'm sorry that I missed you!! What is your goal?

You didn't miss me at all - that was my first post...Sure would help if I told you how many books to add....100 is my goal for 2014

Thanks! christine

 

[Pig Pen]

My library finally updated their site to make it more user friendly and easier to find E-books. I reserved Gone Girl last night and this morning had an email it was ready. Downloaded it this morning so I can get it started tonight or tomorrow. Yay!

That was one of my favorite books last year. I also read her other two books "Sharp Objects" and "Dark Places" which were good reads, but "Gone Girl" was the best of the lot.

 

[CallieMar]

I know this wasn't directed at me, but when I'm in the mood for historical romance some of my favorite authors are Johanna Lindsay, Beatrice Small, Julie Garwood and Jude Devereaux.

Thank you for the recs!

 

[CupcakeKelly]

Just finished reading the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie. I really enjoyed the books, they were really quick reads. The third book was definitely my least favorite, but I still really liked it. I would recommend it if you liked Divergent, but would have liked a little more of a romance.

Next I'm reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It's been on my to-read list for over a year, so I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

Next I'm reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It's been on my to-read list for over a year, so I'm really looking forward to it.

I read this a few years ago. I loved it. I read it on a Kindle and found out at the end that there was a glossary of terms. I wish I had known that as I was reading. That book is the reason I don't read nonfiction on my Kindle anymore. I'm not good at flipping back and forth!

 

[cousinbb]

I finished my first book today!! 1/13. It was a great book! A good final book to the Rangers Apprentice series.

 

[wrestlingchick26]

Book 12- above suspicion- Lynda la plante.
I enjoyed this book, had some suspenseful moments and really took you through the solving of the case.
Highly recommend and I will be checking out some more of hers.

Up next- no idea depends what takes my fancy

 

[portia9]

I saw this on facebook and thought it might be of interest to fellow book lovers

http://www.retreatbyrandomhouse.ca/2014/01/reading-bingo-challenge-2014/

 

[portia9]

#8 A Village in Jeopardy by Rebecca Shaw

#9 The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner

#10 Village School by Miss Read

 

[wilma-bride]

Wow, I am in awe of how quickly some of you are reading

I have just finished Book #3 - The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

From Amazon: The Victorian language of flowers was used to express emotions: honeysuckle for devotion, azaleas for passion, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it has been more useful in communicating feelings like grief, mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen, Victoria has nowhere to go, and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. When her talent is discovered by a local florist, she discovers her gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But it takes meeting a mysterious vendor at the flower market for her to realise what's been missing in her own life, and as she starts to fall for him, she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, and decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness. The Language of Flowers is a heartbreaking and redemptive novel about the meaning of flowers, the meaning of family, and the meaning of love.

Oh my goodness, I loved this book so much. The first couple of chapters I found it difficult to get into and I wasn't sure about the writing style. But I am so glad I stuck with it. This book was moving and emotional and I'm not ashamed to admit, I cried buckets towards the end. I absolutely love any book that can make me either love or hate the characters and I loved them all in this book. Definitely a must-read. It is going to take a lot of beating. In fact, I finished it early on yesterday evening but didn't start anything else as I didn't think anything else could possibly follow it.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Undead and Unwed
MaryJanice Davidson

Betsy Taylor--former model, newly unemployed secretary, 30, and still single--wakes up after being flattened by a small SUV in a tacky coffin wearing cheap knock-off shoes. Her mother is glad she is back, albeit as a vampire, but her stepmother is enraged that Betsy has reclaimed her designer-shoe collection. With a wealthy best friend and a newly acquired doctor pal who is not susceptible to her formidable allure, she sets out to right wrongs but is abducted by Nostro, a tacky 500-year-old vampire who rules the undead roost. It seems that Betsy is an anomaly: a vampire who doesn't burn in sunlight, can fight the urge to feed, and is not repulsed by religious articles, all of which may make her the prophesied Queen of the Vampires. Teaming up with gorgeous vampire Eric Sinclair, who is in her opinion a major pervert, she takes on Nostro and his minions. Sexy, steamy, and laugh-out-loud funny, Davidson's chick-lit foray into the paranormal is delightful.

I enjoyed this book. I wouldn't call it a "good book", but it WAS entertaining and kept me interested.

Some parts were laugh out loud funny and I like a lot of the characters. The love scenes were poorly written, but I don't really care for them too much anyway.

I will probably read more in the series.

 

[Ginny Favers]

Just finished #6/200: Hate List by Jennifer Brown. Loved this one!

GoodReads Summary:

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this one. It was one I read in a day because I just couldn't put it down. I'll definitely be reading more by this author!

All of her books are amazing.

My 3/25 was THE BOOK THIEF

I know everyone loved this book, but I did not. Too much author intrusion. I had this problem with I AM THE MESSENGER, too... the author comes up with all these things trying to be clever, and it just makes him look pretentious. I didn't buy death as a narrator. A lot of it seemed cliché, and so when the sad ending came, I just wanted it over. Also, the author annoyingly hinted at things to come so often that I thought a character was dead 100 pages before he actually died.

 

[bookgirl]

#1 The Villa Nora Roberts
#2 Birthright Nora Roberts


#3 Three Fates Nora Roberts

This is an oldie but goodie from the Nora Roberts bibliography. Written in early 2000's, we have a nice mixture of Nora's Ireland's characters and folklore, a few American characters to add a different point of view and just a bit of folklore and paranormal encounter. This book is written with a main couple and a few auxiliary couples as well. This style will be familiar to those who read who regularly and recognize her pre "trilogy" format.

When 6 people meet (3 men and 3 women) and find that their lives intertwine with the timeline of three Greek statues known as the Three Fates mystery, intrigue and romance meet for a quick read and a light escape into the world or fantasy.

I hadn't read this particular book in probably 8 or 9 years so it was nice to step back and reacquaint myself with the story. It makes a great vacation read, or just an escape from the winter blahs.


#4 The Spider (book 10 in the Elemental Assassin Series)

This is the 10th book in the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep. However this is an origin story set almost a decade before Book 1 Spider's Bite.

I first read this series in early 2013, so I did a crash reading spree to catch up. I'm a big fan of urban fantasy and of strong female leads and have loved this series.

However I was not such a fan of this story. Not so much the origin story itself, which was actually very well written and played on some themes in the series, but the fact that she threw in almost every character from the series even if it made no sense. In one case of "wow I don't remember that we had a very unique and very much memorable meeting a decade ago and I didn't even recognize you later" and a second that was used but conflicts with a meeting in the actual series.

It's annoying but the actual story still makes this worth reading to preserve the series.


I was killing time with some classic NR until The Spider came out. I have written up reviews on two of them. I pasted them above.

Listening to Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings (book 1 of the Belgariad)

About to start River Road by Jayne Ann Krentz.

 

[dismom301930]

THE BOOK THIEF

I know everyone loved this book, but I did not. Too much author intrusion. I had this problem with I AM THE MESSENGER, too... the author comes up with all these things trying to be clever, and it just makes him look pretentious. I didn't buy death as a narrator. A lot of it seemed cliché, and so when the sad ending came, I just wanted it over. Also, the author annoyingly hinted at things to come so often that I thought a character was dead 100 pages before he actually died.

I didn't love this book as much as most people either - I thought it was just okay. However, my DD12 recently read it and it touched her deeply. It is the first WWII novel she has ever read, and she cried buckets. She had to stop reading it at school during her free time because she became so emotional. I took her to see the movie the same day she finished the book. She now says it is one of the best books she has ever read.

Do you have any authors that you recommend? I tend to reread my Lisa Kleypas novels if I'm stuck with no new library books coming in. I really like her but haven't branched out beyond her work.

For light historical romance, I like Julia Quinn, particularly the Bridgerton series. It is a series of 8 books - the early ones are best, but if you like the series you will probably want to read them all.

I have added Language of Flowers, Orphan Train, and Hate List to my list of books I want to read. Thanks for the recommendations!

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #7 - Return to Tradd Street by Karen White

This is book 4 & I believe the final book of this series. This is about a woman who can see ghosts & she inherits an old home in Charleston. The books go through mysteries of the family that lived in the home & the ghosts that haunt it. Also, there is alot of relationship stuff too w/an author who helps her solve the mysteries. The mysteries are interesting as well as the on again, off again romance between Melanie & Jack. The story is finished up nicely as the end. I would recommend this series as a fun quick read.

Melanie is only going through the motions of living since refusing Jacks marriage proposal. She misses him desperately, but her broken heart is the least of her problems. Despite an insistence that she can raise their child alone, Melanie is completely unprepared for motherhood, and she struggles to complete renovations on her house on Tradd Street before the baby arrives.
When Melanie is roused one night by the sound of a ghostly infant crying, she chooses to ignore it. She simply does not have the energy to deal with one more crisis. That is, until the remains of a newborn buried in an old christening gown are found hidden in the foundation of her house.
As the hauntings on Tradd Street slowly become more violent, Melanie decides to find out what caused the babys untimely death, uncovering the love, loss, and betrayal that color the houses historyand threaten her claim of ownership. But can she seek Jacks help without risking her heart? For in revealing the secrets of the past, Melanie also awakens the malevolent presence that has tried to keep the truth hidden for decades.&

Next book: Interview w/a Vampire By Anne Rice

 

[BudgieMama]

Too late to join? This would be a great challenge!

I'd love to aim for 30

 

[phorsenuf]

Number nine: The Alternative Guide to Nursery Rhymes

Amazon description "Once upon a time, someone decided it would be a good idea to invent little rhyming stories and fairy tales to put children to bed with. The problem is most of these stories don't make any sense.

This book is a collection of short stories designed to give a bit of back-story to some of the more common nursery rhymes and fairy tales and provide a bit more characterisation in order to provide substance to the otherwise absurdity of them."

My review: Funny but crude. Definitely not for kids. This book is the author's interpretation of the stories behind some of the best-loved fairy tales. It certainly makes the tales more interesting, but not for the easily offended.

This sounds really interesting. I went to look it up on Amazon and it says it's 15 pages long. Is that right or a misprint?

 

[mumloveseeyore]

book 8/150 WISH UPON A STAR BY TRICIA SHLEY
from amazon
The perfect gift isn’t always under the tree…

Single mum Cally’s life is all about her little girl Stella. She’s resigned to the fact that the only romance she’s going to get is from the rom-coms she watches, and with her busy job and her daughter, she doesn’t have time to even think about love.

But life gets very tough when Stella gets sick. Balancing her job as a recipe writer and looking after Stella is all consuming, so when Cally meets handsome baker Jago the last thing she wants to do is fall in love, especially when she’s been badly burned by a Prince Charming from her past.
Can laid-back, charming Jago unlock Cally’s frozen heart and help her find true love and magic under the mistletoe?
this was fun light christmassy chick lit, the same author has written several other books set in the same village, i really enjoyed it.

 

[Pig Pen]

If anyone is interested, the kindle version of Wolf Hall is only $2.99 on Amazon right now. It's been on my wish list for awhile. I love books about the Tudors.

 

[keenercam]

Wait a month or so before reading it. It is the same story from Holder's perspective so it is a bit redundant. I think if you wait a little while you will enjoy it a lot more.

I agree with this, completely.